


Anonymous Benefactor

by dirtyinfluences



Category: South Park
Genre: Fluff, Fluff without Plot, Gift Giving, High School, M/M, Not Beta Read, Rated for swearing, Secret Admirer
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-11
Updated: 2021-01-11
Packaged: 2021-03-15 08:35:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,667
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28685703
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dirtyinfluences/pseuds/dirtyinfluences
Summary: "The first gift showed up on an otherwise uneventful Thursday afternoon; A tiny sky blue gift box tied to Kenny’s locker with a darker blue ribbon."Mysterious gifts are being left for Kenny with no clue as to who the gifter is. At first it was just a curiousity but when the presents keep showing up, Kenny decides he needs to find who this secret admirer of his is.
Relationships: Kenny McCormick/Craig Tucker
Comments: 3
Kudos: 46





	Anonymous Benefactor

**Author's Note:**

> Uhhh so hi! Here's my first posted foray into this fandom. I mean, I've been here for years but. Silently. 
> 
> Shout out to the Crenny Nation discord channel for being the real mvps. In particular Lex, who originally inspired the idea and came up with some of the gifts that show up in this fic.
> 
> Completely un-beta'd with only a quick reread. If you spot anything weird, please tell me so I can fix it! :)

The first gift showed up on an otherwise uneventful Thursday afternoon; A tiny sky blue gift box tied to Kenny’s locker with a darker blue ribbon. There was no gift tag to identify the intended recipient or who it was from but considering his locker had his name sharpie’d quite clearly he figured it was unlikely that it was meant for someone else. Even if, their fault for making such dumb a mistake. Kenny shot a quick glance up and down the hallway to see if anyone was watching before he had unstrung the box while thumbing open his combination lock.

Nestled inside was a baggie filled with chocolates. They were rough looking, clearly homemade, and shaped like stars. Kenny ignored the nearby bell signalling the beginning of afternoon classes, too caught up in twisting open the cellophane and picking up one of the chocolates. A curious sniff revealed nothing beyond the faint scent of cocoa so, with a shrug, Kenny popped the mystery chocolate into his mouth. There was nothing distinct at first but when he bit down the taste of coffee liqueur bloomed across his tongue, drawing out a pleased noise of surprise. A second piece ended up being the same flavour.

Grin plastered to his face, Kenny headed to his first afternoon class, box of chocolates in hand. He’s the last to arrive, for which the teacher spared him an irritated look, and as soon as he dropped into his seat Cartman was already hissing at him to get his attention from two rows over.

“The hell you got there?”

 _As polite as always._ Kenny thought, sticking his tongue out in response. He ignored the high pitched whining to lean back and eat another chocolate – perhaps a bit more exaggerated than needs be but the annoyed huff from Cartman brought its own delight. As if he was going to share his favourite type of chocolate with anyone.

* * *

The next gift came a week later. Instead of being attached to his locker, this time sitting on his homeroom desk. Instead of a box, the contents were wrapped carefully in multi-coloured wrapping paper. Kenny spotted it the same time Kyle, Stan and Cartman did and he quickly darted forward to grab it before Cartman could try to get his grubby mitts on it.

“Dude, what’s that?” Kyle is the first to ask as Kenny turned the parcel over in his hands. Still no name tag; He slid a thumbnail under the folds on the side, carefully lifting the tape up to avoid ripping the paper.

“No way!” Kenny exclaimed as the paper fell away, revealing a collected anthology of one of his favourite comics. “I didn’t even know there was a collection!”

“Who’s it from?” Stan asked, picking up the wrapping paper.

“Not a clue. No name.” Kenny shrugged, snatching the wrapping paper back to start folding up. Waste not want not. Karen’s had a birthday coming up soon and the pattern was cheerful enough that it would make her smile. Paper folded and put away, Kenny stood his science text straight up on the desk and cracked the comic open behind it. It was not a particularly subtle move but it was not like Kenny was known for his stellar performance. Not his fault the comic was more interesting than twelfth grade science.

He read it all through his first four periods, consuming page after page until finally the first half of the day was over and everyone shuffled to the lunch hall.

“Hey, Craig! Look what I have.” Kenny announced as he plopped down onto the seat of the bench, food tray balanced in one hand and comic in the other.

“Oh, sweet. Let me know what you think of the ending.” Craig replied in an even tone, gaze not lifting from his mashed potatoes. While Craig could be monotone at times, there was a forced element to this and an undercurrent of something that Kenny could not quite pick up. Excitement perhaps? Not that Kenny could figure out why he would be trying to hide that. They had been talking about the series earlier the week as they both loved the story and Craig had scoffed when Kenny said he had not read the last few issues. Of course, Kenny had defended himself right away. It was not his fault that the library didn’t have them and he couldn’t afford to just go out and buy them but _hey Craig, can’t you just loan me yours?_

Kenny smiled back instead of replying verbally, squirming into a more comfortable position to start in on the comic again. Attention diverted, he didn’t notice the eyes watching him read.

* * *

Once is chance, twice is coincidence, but third time is a pattern.

There was no doubt left now in Kenny’s mind that he had picked up a secret admirer. While he could admit to himself that he was a charismatic fucker, he was honestly baffled at why someone would go through the trouble to leave him anonymous gifts. Love notes, sure, but if you’re spending money then you may as well own up to it in Kenny’s opinion. Take credit.

The third gift came a few weeks later. In fact, Kenny had already near forgotten the incidents, deciding it was either a mistake or someone having fun. Maybe there was a gift ninja in the school, gifting different students random items and Kenny was just lucky enough to be hit twice?

That theory was blown clear out of the water with the arrival of the third gift.

This time a small paper origami pouch was waiting for him inside his locker after classes. Made from purple paper, lavender on one side and darker on the other, there was nothing that identified the gifter as with the previous gifts. When Kenny shook it, something rattled inside.

Kenny’s jaw dropped when he opened the pouch and upended the contents into his waiting hand.

Sitting in his palm is a fine cable chain necklace with a question mark charm. The period dangles from the bottom of the main body of the charm and holds an emerald green crystal. Any doubt of these gifts being random was gone. Not only were these gifts meant for Kenny but it was someone who knew him well enough to remember his Mysterion persona from years ago. Who would even remember that? There were a few people Kenny could think of but he quickly dismissed them. It clearly wasn’t Stan, Kyle or Cartman. None of the girls would know besides Wendy and that was... no. Kenny would actively bet money against that possibility.

After a suspicious glance around him, Kenny clasped the necklace into place. The charm fit perfectly at the hollow of his throat. Kenny ducked into an empty bathroom on his way out the building to examine himself in the mirror, memorized by the necklace. Who would go this far? It wasn’t a cheap looking piece of jewellery. It looked almost too nice for someone like him. God, he couldn’t let his parents see it. Zipping his hoodie up securely, Kenny leaves for the day.

There was no question the next morning, however, if he was going to wear it or not to school. Even if he did not know who his admirer was, the gift was too thoughtful to not wear openly. Besides, Kenny reasoned, if the tables were turned he knew he would be thrilled to see the person wearing it.

No gift waited for him at school, and the rest of his day passed more of less the same. Nothing stood out except for 5th period when he looked over and found Craig staring back at him already, lips slightly parted and pen drooping forward in his lax grip. Kenny blinked at him for a moment then put on the best shit eating grin he could muster.

“I know I’m handsome but if you stare at me any harder I’ll assume you’re in love with me,” Kenny whispered, delighted by the blush that rapidly spread down Craig’s neck. Craig was fascinating in that way – instead of his cheeks colouring, he’d blush with his neck and ears. It was something Kenny had noticed years ago and hoarded the memory of whenever he managed to cause the reaction.

It was cute.

 _What the fuck?_ Kenny frowned at himself as Craig broke eye contact to stare instead at the teacher droning away about history or math or whatever the class was. Okay, if he thought about this objectively then yes, Craig was attractive, and the blushing was cute. That was not indicative of any deeper feelings though, right? Just, normal thoughts. Objectively, Kyle had a nice ass. Didn’t mean he had feelings for him.

_Okay, woah, who said anything about feelings, my good dude?_

Kenny kept his focus on his doodles for the remaining time, gently fingering the question mark charm back and forth over its chain, and only glanced over to Craig intermittently. Sometimes he caught Craig sneaking glances back at him and sometimes not but whenever he did the other boy would quickly look away again. It gave Kenny no further chance to tease him. When the bell rang at the end of class, Craig was up and out of his seat before Kenny could even register everyone packing up around him.

So weird.

* * *

Next is a plain envelope tucked into his locker like the previous gift. This one contains forty bucks and a typed note: _Karen’s birthday is soon. Please take this._ Please take this, as if he could refuse it at this point. Kenny does not have so much pride that he would turn down charity like this, but something in him bristled at not being given the chance to thank this benefactor.

After that is a new pair of winter gloves, thick fabric and lined with sherpa. These come a day after he had made an offhanded comment that he kept forgetting to sew up the hole in his current (previously, now) pair.

Orange creme chocolates followed. Then a Nascar hoodie.

It was driving Kenny absolutely batshit insane to not know who it was behind these gifts. At first he had just been curious but now he was dying to know. Not that he even had a plan for what he would do if he found out who it was but that hardly mattered to him. He just needed to know.

What he needed was a plan. A way to catch whoever it was leaving these gifts behind. Kenny spent an entire evening trying to work out a plan on how to do this, ignoring his homework and letting his rat run over his stomach and chest as he reclined on his bedroom floor, propped up on his elbows. So far most of the gifts had been left at or in his locker. Only the comic and hoodie had been put on his homeroom desk. That meant, logically, it would be easiest to catch the culprit at his locker. He could... hide on top of the lockers? No, that was dumb. He could hide somewhere in the hallway. But whoever it was would probably see him and not chance leaving behind anything.

He could hide in his locker?

He could hide in his locker.

It was genius.

* * *

On the third morning of lying in wait, crammed into his locker, Kenny maybe had to face the fact that hiding in his locker in the hope that his giftgiver would be revealed to him was maybe not the smartest idea he had ever had. His legs were sore from biking to school each morning ahead of the bus, and he was getting bored waiting in the dark.

He was about to admit defeat and wiggle himself free when he heard the shuffle of footsteps come to a stop directly outside his locker. The metallic drag of a zipper opening was followed but the door clattering as something was pushed against it. Not wanting to smack face first into the person on the other side, Kenny waited with bated breath for whoever it was to zipper their book bag back up and take a step back. As soon as he heard the first footstep, Kenny pushed himself out, falling out in a graceful heap of flailing limbs.

“The fuck,” Came from nasally voice above him. Kenny twisted himself onto his back and found himself blinking up at one Craig Tucker. They stared at each other for a few moments, Kenny running the calculations in his head. Craig had just – yup, a quick glance over confirmed a gift back tied to the handle of his locker – left a gift at his locker. The comic... had appeared after he told Craig about not having any of the issues and not being able to finish the story. The question mark necklace, which he was now hyper aware of against his skin, being a homage to the alter ego he took up when both their friends groups played superheros in their youth and the look on his face when he saw Kenny wearing it the next day. Knowing Karen’s birthday. Being at the lunch table when he talked about his ratty gloves. It all fit like perfect puzzle pieces slotting together.

“You’re my secret admirer!” Kenny exclaimed, jumping up excitedly. By now, Craig’s neck and ears were flushed a brilliant, scarlet red.

“I, uh,” Craig stammered, taking two steps back, “what secret admirer? I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Kenny rolled his eyes at the, frankly appalling, attempt to play dumb.

“Don’t pretend you don’t know! You’ve been leaving me gifts!” Kenny near shouted, hand flying up to touch the necklace to prove his point. Craig’s eyes tracked the movement, gaze lingering before quickly flicking back up to Kenny. “I don’t hate them, you know.”

“Well, obviously.”

“I just want to know why.” Kenny asked, closing the gap from the other stepping back.

“You’re not that dumb, Mccormick.” Craig scoffed with an eye roll, and shoved his hands into his pockets. The silence stretched between them, foot traffic picking up a the buses started arriving.

The answer was obvious. But Kenny was not quite sure where to start. His first instinct was to keep questioning him. Why would be like him? Did he just have a thing for blonds? He wasn’t exactly prime real estate by anyone’s standards – dirt poor, crappy family, above average grades but no drive to apply himself.

But he trusted Craig’s opinions. It felt like an insult to question him. So he did the only thing he could think of.

“Oh hey, there's Ke– what the fuck, dude?!”

He grabbed Craig by the shoulders and hauled him closer as he stood up on his toes and leaned in to kiss him. The aim was off, catching Craig on the chin instead before he readjusted and their lips brushed together. It was dry, chaste kiss, chapped lips against softer ones, and ended as quickly as it began. Kenny rolled back to stand flat on his feet.

"You know, you could have just said something." He chuckled, relishing the blush re-emerging even as he felt his own face warming. "How about you stop giving me mystery gifts and actually take me out?"

"I guess that could work." Craig replied nonchalantly, shrugging a shoulder. The effect was ruined by the smile tugging up one corner of his mouth, and the hand he had placed on Kenny's waist.

Kenny tipped his head back and laughed in delight.

The next unsigned gift he received came the last day of highschool. Kenny had emptied his bag onto his bedroom floor when the box bounced out and tumbled a foot away. Sky blue with a navy ribbon, it reminded him instantly of the first gift that started this all. Inside was a baggie of star shaped chocolates but also hiding in the orange tissue paper was a silver key and rolled up note.

_Move in with me?_


End file.
